Among the many exhibitions vying for the public’s attention in this particularly busy fall season, the one in Compiègne is without a doubt one of the best, spectacular as well as erudite, skillfully blending history and art history. It is (...)

The grille which was recently built to link the Dufour et Gabriel Pavillions, on the site where the equestrian statue of Louis XIV commissioned by Louis-Philippe stood formerly, was inaugurated during a presentation to the press corps last (...)

Not content with having invented the photographic process bearing his name, the painter Louis Daguerre also created the Diorama, a theatrical method by which an immense canvas painted on both sides was animated by lights (...)

1. Henri Martin (1860-1943)
Rural Idyll at the Etang de Thau, 1932
Oil on canvas - 198.1 x 339.6 cm
Béziers, Chambre de Commerce
To be sold in London at Christie’s 25 June 2008
On 25 June 2008, Christie’s London will auction off a cycle of (...)

The Giovanni Bellini exhibition in Rome could have formed a sort of diptych with the one devoted to Mantegna at the Louvre. And yet they are as different as they could possibly be. Whereas the second one, well presented, intelligently focuses (...)

The catalogue for the Maastricht Fine Arts Fair this year opened with an introductory essay by Peter van den Brink, director of the Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum in Aix-la-Chapelle devoted to the Dutch painter Jacob Adriaensz (...)

Like the exhibition, of transient quality by its very nature, the catalogue which accompanies this retrospective on 16th to 18th century French bronzes is to be generously commended. It is the result of years of research allowing the detailed (...)

The Musée Paul-Dupuy, which houses the graphic arts cabinet room in the city of Toulouse, has for many years applied an active and coherent policy for enriching its drawing collections. Purchases correspond to two main (...)

As soon as they’re finished, restorations are all systematically qualified as being « exemplary » by the developer. This is the exact term used by Bruno Racine, the president of the Bibliothèque nationale de (...)

By coincidence, at the same time as we decided to publish a special coverage on the Roman Baroque the recently opened Tarantino Gallery in Paris has chosen to devote its second exhibition to the same (...)

Compiègne was a favorite among the royal residences for its excellent hunting grounds. Louis XV, who had Jacques-Ange Gabriel rebuild the château particularly enjoyed it and started riding through the domain (...)

From 27 January to 4 May of this year, this American museum exhibited the Renaissance bronze collection belonging to Robert H. Smith. A businessman, he is president of the Charles E. Smith Company, and has been a patron for many long years of (...)

The Metropolitan Museum has just acquired a work by this major French painter active in Rome during the first half of the 18th century and rediscovered by the public thanks to the exhibition at the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris in (...)

It looked like the museum would never change its pale colours. But make no mistake, coulour has now started appearing on the walls, making the paintings take on a force which was often lost against the dull (...)

It always helps to look on the bright side of things. Thus, the appointment of an administrator from the ENA (French National Administration School) which had been seriously considered by the Ministry of (...)

Las July, with relatively little fanfare, the Bath of Apollo group was finally brought inside the Petite Ecurie. A longtime Versailles lover, Claude Rozier, was there and took several photographs of the removal. We had pointed out the danger to (...)

What is the use of being protected by UNESCO ? The question is well worth asking when seeing the project which Tournai, in Belgium, wishes to build in the immediate vicinity of the cathedral, within the perimeter of protection for the monument (...)

About 150 works on panels from the Musée d’Art Ancien in Brussels suffered from a breakdown in the hygrometrical system which went undected for almost three weeks. The affair was disclosed by the newspaper Télé Moustique which published a detailed (...)

Will Saint Peter’s Denial by Antoine or Louis Le Nain and sold at auction in Nancy on 19 March 2000 with an attribution to the 17th century Lorraine School. Estimated at 200,000 francs, it was acquired by the Parisian dealer Charles Bailly for (...)

Certain galleries contribute in their own way to art history. This is the case for the Galerie Terradès which every year offers an exhibition of French paintings, sculptures and drawings accompanied by a catalogue containing well documented (...)

As announced at a press conference last 4th September (see article), the Musée d’Orsay recently inaugurated several rooms in what was previously the lobby of the building (north-west corner). These new spaces, adjacent to the reception (...)

The Talabardon & Gautier Gallery in Paris is presenting its annual exhibition on the 19th century until December 31st. As usual, there is an accompanying catalogue which is particularly rich with a detailed study of each (...)

The same exhibition can take on another look when it travels to a new location. This is certainly the case for the Courbet retrospective which has just started at the Musée Fabre in Montpellier after stopovers in Paris and New York (not (...)